Tracy Gilbert MP: speeches

Speeches

• 10 Jun 2025 · Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention; I will come back to that point later in my speech. Sweden was the first country to criminalise paying for sex while decriminalising victims of sexual exploitation. The more than two decades since the introduction of its 1999 Sex Purchase Act have provided evidence of its effectiveness. Since that pioneering Act was introduced, demand has dropped significantly, public attitudes have been transformed and traffickers are being deterred. An analysis by the European Commission concluded that the Act, coupled with proactive policing, “has created a less conducive context for trafficking.” In Ireland, an evaluation by researchers at University College Dublin reported that, under the country’s demand-reduction legislation, there was “an increased willingness amongst women” in prostitution “to report crimes committed against them and in their improved relationship with Gardaí overall.” In France, there is strong public support for the demand-reduction laws, which is significant given the importance of changing public attitudes and deterring sex buying. An Ipsos survey found that 78% of the French public support the legislation on prostitution, and 74% think that prostitution is violence. Demand for prostitution and trafficking is not inevitable, and the law has a critical role to play in deterring it. As my hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride and Strathaven (Joani Reid) mentioned, I welcome the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, introduced to the Scottish Parliament by Ash Regan MSP, which looks to replicate the lessons learned from other European countries. I hope that all Members of Scottish Parliament will consider the legislation carefully and support it as it makes its way through Parliament. I am keen to hear from the Minister whether UK Government will be looking to bring forward similar legislation. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on commercial sexual exploitation and has tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to outlaw pimping and paying for sex, and to decriminalise victims of sexual exploitation by removing sanctions for soliciting. I am proud to be among the more than 50 Members of Parliament who are signatories to those amendments. The proposed reforms are backed by survivors and best-practice frontline support services, such as the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance in Scotland, nia, Women@TheWell and Kairos, whose representatives I recently met and heard from. These vital amendments will help the Government to meet our manifesto commitment to halve violence against women and girls by reducing the demand for prostitution. I urge Ministers to accept the amendments, and I am keen to hear the Minister’s views on which amendments may be accepted.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: Demand · Hansard source

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  I agree. One piece of misinformation surrounding the actions that I have proposed is that outlawing pimping websites would simply displace trafficking to the dark web, making no impact on the scale of sexual exploitation. That claim lacks both logic and evidence. Advertising victims of sex trafficking on the dark web carries multiple disadvantages and barriers for both traffickers and sex buyers. It requires technical expertise from the traffickers to post the adverts and from sex buyers to locate and access the adverts. Advertising on the dark web would substantially restrict the customer base that traffickers could access via their adverts, as well as making it harder to advertise victims in the first place. A similar myth is that outlawing paying for sex would just drive prostitution underground, making it harder to identify victims and perpetrators, and have no impact on the scale of offending. There is a logical fallacy underlying that claim: men who pay for sex must be able to locate women to sexually exploit. Police officers’ support services can look at exactly the same adverts as sex buyers to locate victims and perpetrators. In short, if sex buyers can find the women being exploited, so can the police. Perhaps the most destructive myth of all is that being paid to perform sex acts is work, making the men who pay women for sex ordinary consumers. We need to be absolutely clear as policymakers and as a Parliament that there is no such thing as sex work. Giving someone money, accommodation, food or other goods or services in exchange for a sex act is sexual exploitation and abuse. It is never acceptable, and our laws must reflect that. I thank hon. Members for making the time to attend today’s debate. I hope that, together, we can start to end this exploitation of women. I conclude with the words of Mia de Faoite, a survivor of prostitution, who said that demand reduction legislation that criminalises sex buyers and decriminalises victims works because it puts sex buyers “at risk of bringing what they do in the dark into who they are in the day.”

• 20 May 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. Last month, Firth Ports officially opened the Charles Hammond berth at the port of Leith, in a £100 million private investment to create Scotland’s largest renewables hub. Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming that investment in Leith and set out how she is working with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that green manufacturing and supply chain jobs are created in Scotland?

• 19 May 2025 · Gender Self-identification · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. In 2016, the Scottish Government announced their intention to reform the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland and to introduce self-ID. Years followed, and Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in 2022. Since then, according to statistics that started to be published in 2023, waiting times for gender identity clinic appointments have been increasing. In June that year, 5,273 people were waiting for an appointment, with 45 people waiting longer than five years. At 31 March 2024, that had increased to 5,640, with 184 people waiting longer than five years. Transgender identity-aggravated crime charges have also doubled, from approximately 40 in 2016-17 to more than 80 in most years since 2021, which is unacceptable and must be acted on and improved. The Bill is not improving the lives of transgender people. Many people have faced abuse, intimidation and threats for expressing any concerns about or opposition to self-identification. I know people whose careers have suffered, or who have been cancelled or dismissed, and respected academics who have been targeted. I have witnessed placards inciting violence, and sexually aggressive language towards women. We currently have the terrible situation of nurses being taken to employment tribunals for standing up for their rights, which are provided for in the Equality Act 2010. Those threats and that intimidation are almost always targeted at women. During the passage of the Bill, Scottish Ministers repeatedly said it was the most consulted-on Bill in the history of devolution. However, consultation is only meaningful if the feedback is listened to. One of the areas ignored by Scottish Ministers was prison placements. Self-ID was already being implemented in the prison estate across the UK. The issue was raised in the House in February 2019 after a woman was sexually assaulted in HMP New Hall. The then UK Government ordered a policy review; the Scottish Government did nothing. That is just one example where the Scottish Government ignored warnings, leaving them to defend the indefensible. In the Supreme Court case brought by For Women Scotland, Scottish Ministers argued that, for the purpose of sex under the Equality Act, a woman would be a biological woman, a person who had a gender recognition certificate identifying as a woman, or a person who self-identified as a woman. Had the Scottish Ministers won, it would have meant that the rights of one protected characteristic would prevail over the rights of another—again, a concern raised during the consultation that was not listened to and that has been borne out in practice. In one example from March this year, councillors who strongly support self-ID attempted to defund Edinburgh Women’s Aid. Their reason for doing so was that it provided some services that did not include trans people. That women’s project provides single-sex services, refuge and support for women, and a lawful exemption is provided for in the Equality Act.

• 19 May 2025 · Gender Self-identification · Hansard source

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  I appreciate the hon. Member’s giving way on that point. When she talks about vulnerable categories, does she include women, lesbians and gay men?

• 19 May 2025 · Gender Self-identification · Hansard source

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  Does my hon. Friend agree that trans women and trans men should have services and provision on that basis, and that sex and gender are two very separate things?

• 19 May 2025 · Gender Self-identification · Hansard source

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  Absolutely, and I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. Were those councillors really saying that trans people wanted to see vital support for women fleeing violence and abuse withdrawn? Those politicians do not represent the views of any trans person I have met. Self-identification has an impact on a number of protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010. Of course we must do more to help and support trans people to live healthy, happy and fulfilling lives, and we must bring respect and dignity to all. Trans men and women remain protected by the Equality Act 2010, proudly introduced by the last Labour Government, and they must have appropriate services and protections from discrimination in the workplace—but those should never come at the expense of other protected groups. We all know from the Sullivan review that data has not been collected accurately and that institutions continue to blur the lines between sex and gender, which is leading to gaps in provision for all people across communities. Replacing sex with gender identity erases biological difference, which is critically important for medical and health issues, criminal justice, education, sport and the rights of lesbians and gay men, to name but a few areas. In conclusion, it is vital that we have open communication with trans people to move this conversation forward. We all have a responsibility to remove the toxicity from this debate. This is not about winning or losing; it is about how we provide trans people with services and help them to live dignified lives, but with the understanding that sex is not an identity, and gender and sex are not the same thing.

• 15 May 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Overnight, the Israeli Government have issued one of the largest evacuation orders seen in the last 20 months. The Minister with responsibility for the middle east, my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), has appeared before this House to make statements and respond to questions on numerous occasions. However, it is clear that Members on both sides of the House are increasingly alarmed by the Israeli Government’s actions. Will the Leader of the House schedule an urgent debate in Government time on the UK’s response to the conflict and recognition of the Palestinian state?

• 12 May 2025 · Immigration System · Hansard source

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  A report on the economic impact of the University of Edinburgh found that its education exports alone amounted to £1.8 billion in the 2021-22 academic year. What engagement will my right hon. Friend have with the university to ensure that the proposals brought forward today do not have any adverse impact on our world-class universities and their local economic impacts?

• 6 May 2025 · Middle East Update · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his statement following yet another appalling turn of events towards Gaza by the Israeli Government. In a Westminster Hall debate in February, I said I feared that “if the occupation continues, it will become increasingly difficult to apply international law to the situation on the ground.” —[ Official Report, 12 February 2025; Vol. 762, c. 198WH.] I now fear that if we do not recognise a Palestinian state, there will be no Palestinian state that includes Gaza left to recognise. Will the UK Government take immediate steps to recognise the state of Palestine?

• 30 Apr 2025 · Gender Incongruence: Puberty Suppressing Hormones · Hansard source

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  Are the Liberal Democrats supportive of the views in the Cass review? I do not think that that has been stated on the public record as yet.

• 30 Apr 2025 · Gender Incongruence: Puberty Suppressing Hormones · Hansard source

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  Dr Cass was clear in her review that the model of care for people with gender incongruence, and particularly for children and young people, needs to be changed to take into account their holistic care needs. Will the Minister update us on her Department’s progress in implementing those findings?

• 23 Apr 2025 · North Sea Oil and Gas Licences: Economic Growth · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is an opportunity for significant economic growth in Scotland from getting right a just transition from oil and gas to clean power? In my constituency, the landing space at the port of Leith previously used by the oil and gas sector has been transformed by investment from Forth Ports into the largest renewable hub in Scotland. Will he join me in welcoming this investment in Leith, and will he outline how his Department will help secure every job possible in the transition from oil and gas?

• 22 Apr 2025 · “For Women Scotland” Supreme Court Ruling · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Minister’s statement and put on record my thanks to For Women Scotland for its tireless work over a number of years. It was the public face of many women who have experienced discrimination, abuse and personal loss for making the argument that the Supreme Court made last Wednesday. The Supreme Court held up the rights of lesbians to be able to associate with same-sex attracted women. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that lesbians and gay men can associate without facing challenge?

• 14 Mar 2025 · Rare Cancers Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank all hon. Members for their moving, passionate and powerful speeches. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) on bringing forward the Bill and on the work he has done with so many stakeholders. I commend him on sharing the story of his father-in-law, who will be sadly missed by him and his family. The story of my hon. Friend’s father-in-law has prompted a significant number of my constituents in Edinburgh North and Leith who are advocates for the Bill to share their stories. A constituent told me about their friend, who passed away aged 45 in November 2023. They were diagnosed with two rare cancers. On each occasion, they were informed by their doctor that it was a cancer that they did not know how to treat. My constituent’s friend tragically died unable to understand why more was not known about those rare cancers, despite the large amount of money that has been put into research and the wins achieved in cancer care and treatment by scientists and medics over the past few decades. In Edinburgh, many cancer patients are treated at the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre at the Western general hospital, which borders my Edinburgh North and Leith constituency. Established in 2022, the Cancer Research UK Scotland centre brings together the very best in cancer research from Edinburgh and Glasgow, working with over 80 teams. The centre has established processes, and has access to two of the largest cancer treatment centres in Scotland, making trials and research more efficient. One of the centre’s six research themes is mesothelioma, a rare cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart. I am keen to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West about his engagement with the University of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre on the Bill. The Bill crosses devolved and reserved areas. I believe in pooling and sharing resources. Just as profit should not be a barrier to research, neither should the border at Gretna. I am keen to hear from my hon. Friend or the Minister about any discussions that have taken place with the Scottish Government and other devolved Administrations to ensure that we work across the UK, and use the research talent of the University of Edinburgh and others across the UK. We need a joined-up approach to make breakthroughs on the treatment and care of those with rare cancers. Has there been dialogue with Ministers in Scotland and other devolved Ministers on clauses 2 and 3? Have devolved Ministers given any undertakings to replicate the proposals? In conclusion, the Bill will make a difference to our constituents, and I am delighted to speak in support of it. My mum Violet died two decades ago within six weeks of her cancer being diagnosed. I hope that the Bill will give hope and time to every family impacted by a cancer diagnosis.

• 11 Mar 2025 · Gender Critical Beliefs: Equality Act 2010 · Hansard source

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  I wonder whether the hon. Member is aware of the case of my constituent, Roz Adams, who was employed as a counsellor and support worker at Edinburgh Rape Crisis. She was investigated for potentially transphobic views, having asked how she would respond to a woman service-user who asked the sex of a support worker who identified as non-binary. Does the hon. Member agree that targeting women with gender critical views in turn targets women advocating for women’s services, especially for women survivors of rape and sexual assault?

• 10 Mar 2025 · Crime and Policing Bill · Hansard source

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  I declare an interest as a member and former employee of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers. I welcome the Bill brought forward by the Government. I want to discuss three broad areas: antisocial behaviour; retail crime; and measures to end commercial sexual exploitation. Antisocial behaviour has been an increasing concern for my constituents in Edinburgh North and Leith. Over the past few months, they have relayed to me their concerns over a group of young people who have been dubbed the “baby gang”. Their name might not seem threatening, but their actions are. The actions of the “baby gang” have alarmed my constituents and made them afraid. The tragedy is that many of the gang members are only in their mid-teens. During the general election campaign, constituents told me repeatedly how they were fed up with off-road bikes being used in parks and on pavements. That is why I am so pleased to see that the Bill will include provisions to tackle not only antisocial behaviour but the use of off-road motorbikes used in this manner. These issues are devolved to the Scottish Parliament, so I hope that the Scottish Government —although they are not represented here tonight—will look closely at these measures. On retail crime, I congratulate the Government on the measures in the Bill to tackle the unacceptable attacks and assaults on shop workers. The provisions in part 3 of the Bill replicate legislation that has already been brought forward by a Member of the Scottish Parliament, my colleague Daniel Johnson MSP, when he secured the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021. We are beginning to see the positive impact of the legislation and the effects it has had in shops and supermarkets across Scotland, which is evidenced in the data. In USDAW’s latest Freedom from Fear research, 77% of shop workers across the UK reported abuse, 53% reported being threatened and 10% reported being assaulted. The data from Scotland is lower, demonstrating that within only a few years the introduction of a specific crime is helping to create a safer working environment for shop workers. I am proud that this Bill will extend this protection, because protection at work should not be limited by postcodes. The Bill has no specific measures to reduce prostitution or sex trafficking. In 2023, the Home Affairs Committee found that legislation was needed in this area, as a report from the inquiry on human trafficking found that the collaboration between the National Crime Agency and the Home Office on pimping websites had produced no evidence of improvement. I believe that the Bill should go further in tackling this exploitation. It could afford the Government the opportunity to take the actions required to reduce demand and to tackle pimping websites. I would be grateful to hear from the Minister whether the Government would look favourably on amendments that seek to make profiting from the prostitution of another person a criminal offence. This Bill will go a long way in reducing crime, and I hope that when we next consider it in this place, it will contain measures that reduce the commercial exploitation of women.

• 4 Mar 2025 · Economic Growth: Scotland · Hansard source

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  15. What steps she has taken to help increase economic growth in Edinburgh North and Leith constituency.

• 4 Mar 2025 · Economic Growth: Scotland · Hansard source

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  I am sure that my right hon. Friend will agree on the importance of the Scotch whisky industry. Support for the industry starts at home by attracting investment, including at the Port of Leith distillery in my constituency, which is producing single malt Scotch whisky, attracting tourists and showcasing the best of Scottish hospitality. My right hon. Friend will be aware of the industry’s concerns about the watering down of the definition of single malt, which will have an impact on investment and growth. Will he therefore work with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that no change is made to the definition of single malt that would undermine the Scottish success story and investment in the Scottish whisky industry?

• 4 Mar 2025 · Palestinian Rights: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree that the challenge the Palestinian people face just trying to live their day-to-day lives is completely intolerable. Luckily, to return to the incident I was describing, no one was hurt on this occasion—but that is not the case on every occasion. Those are just a few examples of the threats of violence that Israeli settlers inflict on Palestinians every day. The situation of Palestinians in the west bank and Gaza is desperate. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion declaring Israel’s occupation of the west bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza strip to be unlawful under international law. The court emphasised that Israel’s prolonged occupation and settlement activities violate the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and contravene international legal principles. It also stated that all states are obligated to ensure that they are not in any way aiding or assisting the maintenance of the continued presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. As a democratic country committed to the rule of law and human rights, the UK must consider the gravity of that ruling and how it will affect UK-Israeli relations. In particular, it must examine whether continuing to allow goods produced in settlements in the west bank into the UK market would be considered assisting and prolonging the occupation, hence denying basic rights to the Palestinian people. I welcome the sanctions put in place last October, but I am keen to hear from the Minister what impact they have had and what further actions the Government can take. For example, they could extend sanctions to regional councils in the west bank that are responsible for funding illegal and violent outposts. I will close with the powerful remarks made by Roni Keidar, whom our delegation met, as colleagues have pointed to. As a woman who has lived on the Gaza border most of her life and survived the attacks on 7 October, she said that “either the Israeli and Palestinian people find a way to live together, or they will die together.”

• 4 Mar 2025 · Palestinian Rights: Government Support · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I congratulate the Father of the House, the right hon. Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh), on securing the debate. It was a privilege to join him recently on the delegation organised by Yachad to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. At the outset, I must share my horror at the Israeli Government’s most recent action in stopping all aid going into Gaza. It is paramount that both Israel and Hamas move to the second phase of the ceasefire so that we can secure the return of all hostages and a long-term peace. Visiting the west bank and the Gaza envelope was an honour, and it brings a perspective I will never forget. While we were in the west bank, we heard directly from Palestinian families who have been victims of settler violence. It is estimated that there are around 250 settlements in the west bank and East Jerusalem—settlements that have led to Palestinian families being attacked, Palestinian children being harassed on the way to and from school, cars being burned and damaged, houses and schools being destroyed, access to water and roads being blocked, and families being prevented from working their land to make a living and feed themselves. Not only did we hear about settler violence, but we witnessed it at first hand when we were approached by two armed settlers in the south Hebron hills. An even more alarming incident occurred last week, when Yachad organised a trip for a group of British rabbis on a similar visit to ours. A settler drove his car towards the delegation, threatening to run into it on several occasions, blocking the participants from leaving the area and then driving into the side of their bus, as well as the car that was accompanying them with the photographer. The same delegation of rabbis—British Jewish leaders who care about Israel and who want peace—saw at first hand how settler youths attacked Palestinian women in Hebron, spitting at them and kicking them until the military intervened. No punitive action was taken. It is clear that, in the west bank, settlers control the land.

• 24 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T5. It is illegal to post a prostitution advert in a phone box, yet the very same advert can be freely posted online by a pimping website. Such websites are making it as easy to order a woman to exploit as it is to order a takeaway. Does the Minister agree that we must urgently update our anti-pimping laws to make it a criminal offence to enable or to profit from the prostitution of another person online or offline?

• 13 Feb 2025 · East Coast Main Line · Hansard source

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  My constituents have raised concerns about the reliability of services on the east coast main line, with one constituent receiving delay repay compensation for five out of six journeys he took over a two-month period. I welcome the correspondence I have had with the Rail Minister on the action that the Department for Transport is taking with rail partners, including through the east coast digital programme. Will my hon. Friend confirm that the first trains utilising new digital signalling technology will be on the tracks by the end of the year? When does she expect passengers to feel the full benefit of this welcome upgrade?

• 13 Feb 2025 · East Coast Main Line · Hansard source

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  8. What steps her Department is taking to improve reliability on the east coast main line.

• 13 Feb 2025 · LGBT+ History Month · Hansard source

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  It is a privilege to speak in this debate—although in writing my speech ahead of today, I could not help but feel old. We are here to debate LGBT+ History Month, and, as a woman of a certain age, I have had the stark and daunting realisation that I am so old that I am part of history. We are all aware of the stories of now famous LGBT+ people who were remarkable in their own field, but who lived too early to enjoy the progress that we have now achieved. Alan Turing, who was mentioned earlier, springs to mind. In many senses his story is now legend. The understanding of the role that he played in protecting this country is universal. That he happened to be gay should not have mattered. Despite his service, he was chemically castrated and suffered for the rest of his life. It was absolutely correct that the last Labour Government apologised, and that Turing was pardoned in August 2014. LGBT+ History Month is often marked and reflected through stories, and today I want to share just some of my story. I grew up in a mining town in the ’80s. The difference in the rights that I have now compared with then is striking. As a lesbian woman, I have spent my adult life fighting for LGBT+ rights. It was when fighting for those rights that I first visited this place. After many years of debate and setbacks, in June 1998, this House voted to equalise the age of consent between heterosexual and gay men. As an active member of the Unison City of Edinburgh lesbian and gay self-organised group, we had been campaigning for many years to end this discrimination. The Unison archive reminded me that our branch wrote letters to all Scottish MPs and MPs who had a link with our union—it was 320 in total. On the day of the vote, two of us came to this place to lobby MPs in person to vote for this historic change. The next big fight for our rights in which I was actively involved was the repeal of section 28, or section 2A in Scotland. As someone who worked in local government and who had a same sex partner with children, I saw the damage that section 2A did every single day. The Act meant that teachers and youth workers could not provide support to children of same sex partners, or LGBT+ young people. It resulted in many public sector workers, particularly those in educational settings, feeling that they could not come out in their own workplace. Essentially, the law said that households, such as the one in which I was living, were just wrong. When the Scottish Executive announced that they would repeal section 2A, there was a considerable and, at times, vile campaign against its removal, much of it financed by Brian Souter. Souter wanted to bankroll a private referendum and campaign for people to vote no. There were billboards across Scotland opposing the repeal. One billboard was on Ferry Road, one of the main bus routes through my home in the Edinburgh North and Leith constituency. I will never forget having to take David and Zoe to school on a bus and passing a sign that said that our family was not a real family. I cannot put into words the anger that I felt because of the worry that it created for me, the kids and their mum. Thankfully the people of Scotland rejected the buying of democracy by Brian Souter and the referendum never happened. A few years ago the Scottish Trades Union Congress commissioned a book celebrating 125 years of trade union successes in Scotland, and, as a contributor, I wrote about this struggle. In the book I said: “An overarching worry for the general public was that Souter was trying to bankroll this referendum and campaign. People did not want private, rich people to be able to buy democracy.” I know that my constituents still hold this view. The following decade and a half brought significant improvements to the rights of LGBT+ people in Scotland and across the UK. I look forward to reflecting on one of those rights in a few weeks’ time when I celebrate my first wedding anniversary with my wife. In closing, the struggle for LGBT rights has been fought in workplaces, in our communities, in our families and across this House for decades. We have had many successes but, sadly, some people still live in fear of their lives because they love someone of the same sex. In this place, we must continue to fight to ensure that everyone is able to love who they wish regardless of where they are born. My hope is that, very soon, people across the world will have the freedoms that I enjoy here in the UK today.